GOHS officials say there were more than 130 pedestrian fatalities in 2012 and the number accounted for about 11 percent of all traffic deaths that year. Authorities say a majority of cyclist and pedestrian fatalities on a national level happen at night. Officials say about 32 percent happen between 8 p.m. and midnight, and 24 percent happen between midnight and 4 a.m.

GOHS Director Harris Blackwood says winter is the darkest time of year and cyclists and pedestrians should wear reflective clothing to make sure they're visible to drivers.

Officials say Georgia drivers should also remember that a relatively new law requires them to leave at least three feet of space when passing a cyclist.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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Emory's board of trustees elects 2 new members

ATLANTA (AP) — Emory University's board of trustees has elected two new members.

The university says Shantella Carr Cooper was elected as an alumni trustee, and Timothy C. Rollins was elected to serve as a term trustee. Both are expected to serve six-year terms.

Cooper is an executive at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company and general manager of the company's Marietta facility. She has received numerous honors and serves on the boards of a variety of civic organizations. She has an MBA from Emory's Goizueta Business School.

Rollins is a vice president of the Rollins Investment Company in Atlanta. He has been a member of Emory's board of visitors, and his family has longstanding ties to the school.

The 41-member board of trustees oversees the governance and long-range fiduciary health of the university.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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Atlanta mayor announces job changes at City Hall

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is announcing some changes in top leadership positions at City Hall.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the moves are the latest in Reed's staffing changes as he heads into his second term.

Reed on Tuesday named Michael Geisler as interim chief operating officer and three people to share the role of deputy COO. Geisler, the chief financial officer of the Department of Watershed Management, joined the city in 2012.

Both Chief Operating Officer Duriya Farooqui and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Manager Louis Miller are leaving the administration this month.

City officials say Geisler will serve in Farooqui's role as Reed's administration launches a national search for a permanent replacement.

Deputy Chief Operating Officer Hans Utz will now split his position with Tom Weyandt and Kristin Wilson.

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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Autopsy finds that Port Wentworth woman was killed

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (AP) — The death of a Port Wentworth woman has been ruled a homicide after an autopsy.

Port Wentworth Police Chief Matt Libby said 33-year-old Lisa Marie Pynn was found dead in her Lake Shore Subdivision home just after 8 a.m. Saturday. Lynn was found in her bedroom by her 6-year-old child, who then alerted a neighbor.

An autopsy Tuesday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab confirmed Pynn was killed. Libby declined to release further information about the cause of death.

Libby said the victim's husband was overseas serving a military deployment when Pynn was killed but has since returned to the area.

The Savannah Morning News reports (http://bit.ly/1jyPb0P) that Pynn's death marks the first homicide Port Wentworth police have investigated since July 2011 and only the second in the past decade.

LOGANVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Police in an Atlanta suburb took a suspect into custody after they say gunshots were fired from a home, prompting a SWAT team to evacuate residents from about eight homes nearby.

Gwinnett County sheriff's Deputy Shannon Volkodav said two shots were fired from inside the home sometime before 10 a.m. Wednesday in Loganville, northeast of Atlanta.

Authorities say deputies were serving an eviction notice at the home when they were met with gunfire. Police say two gunshots were fired, and no injuries were reported.

Members of a Special Weapons and Tactics team then evacuated residents from the nearby homes.

Police did not immediately identify the suspect, who was apprehended shortly before noon.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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3 killed in south Georgia house fire

NASHVILLE, Ga. (AP) — State fire officials say three people have been killed in a blaze that tore through a house in south Georgia.

Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner's office investigators ruled the Wednesday morning house fire in Nashville as accidental. Nashville is about 30 miles north of Valdosta.

Commissioner's spokesman Glen Allen says 39-year-old Arturo Garcia, his 16-year-old stepson Toby Hawkins and a 17-year-old family friend, Christopher Rowan, were killed. Two other people were injured and were treated for smoke inhalation at the South Georgia Medical Center.

Commissioner Ralph Hudgens says the fire was linked to unattended food left cooking in the kitchen and authorities found nothing suspicious about the blaze.

Hudgens says the incident raised the number of fire-related fatalities in the state to 15 so far this year.

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